The Gordon Research Conference on "Nitric Oxide in Biochemistry and Biology" is designed to provide chemists, biologists, biochemists, cell biologists, clinicians, and other biomedical scientists with state of the art knowledge on nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen species in chemical and biological systems. This research conference is held every two years; the next meeting will be held February 4-8, 2001, at the Four Points Sheraton Harbortown Hotel, Ventura, California. Three conferences have been held since 1995 and they have proven to be extremely productive based on the large number of applicants and the post-meeting evaluations. Funding is specifically requested to support young investigators as session chairman and speakers as well as to partially support productive post docs and graduate students to attend the meeting. The speakers listed in this program were selected based on suggestions from previous chairs, co-chairs and attendees at the past conferences. Virtually all speakers have accepted the invitation to present their latest research on the biology and chemistry of nitric oxide. Topics to be covered include the roles of reactive nitrogen species in neurodegeneration, vascular disease and wound healing, novel strategies for the selective inhibition of nitric oxide synthase isozymes, reactions of NO with hemoglobin and other heme proteins and the biological effects of tyrosine nitration. In addition, Professor Louis Ignarro, the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine, will present a Plenary Lecture entitled "The physiological role for N-hydroxyarginine during the synthesis of nitric oxide." Two separate poster sessions of two days each are scheduled for an anticipated 50-70 posters. Total attendance is limited to 135 by Gordon Conference rules. The Gordon Research Conference provides an excellent and needed forum for the diversity of both participants and research areas. The main strength of this Gordon Research Conference is the opportunity offered for scientists in different disciplines to interact in an extended and uninterrupted fashion. This type of interaction generally results in new collaborative research initiatives. The Gordon Research Conference focused on the biological chemistry of nitric oxide plays a crucial role in exploring frontier research in this important and clinically relevant field.